Monday, 15 November 2010

Narita Airport Terminal 1 Shopping Guide

There were quite a number of questions following my earlier post about shopping in the dutyfree area of Narita Airport Terminal 1 so I thought I'd do a more detailed post with pics. This is for the South Wing of Terminal 1 which is used for international flights. After you pass immigration, there are two large Perfumes & Cosmetics stores on your left hand side. The first one stocks Cosme Decorte, Est, MAC, Anna Sui, Helena Rubenstein etc. The Cosme Decorte counter has mostly skincare. It had the Magie Deco holiday coffret but not the makeup line. The second store (which is right next to the first) stocks Lunasol, Impress skincare, RMK, Shiseido (Cle de Peau, Maquillage and the main Shiseido line) and Chanel. Both Lunasol and RMK are about 20% cheaper than the usual retail price. The Lunasol holiday collection is available but the coffret had already sold out when I was there yesterday. The Tsubaki haircare range is sold in sets of three to four full-size products.The Anna Sui holiday collection is currently available. The prices are about 25% cheaper compared to the normal retail price in Japan. The Est makeup display. The prices are also about 20% cheaper compared to the usual retail price. If you turn right after immigration, there is also a Perfumes & Cosmetics store with Anna Sui, Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown, Shiseido, SKII, Clinique, L'Occitane, Dior but not Kanebo/Lunasol/RMK. The Bobbi Brown holiday palettes. There is a book store on the left hand side of the terminal (near gates numbering in the 50s) which has a good selection of Japanese magazines and mooks. All these shops are in the departure dutyfree area. If you are arriving at Narita Airport, you will not be able to stop at these shops before going through immigration as the arrival area is separated from the departure area. When I'm on my way back to Singapore, I always like to buy lots of Japanese snacks for my family and friends. One oft-requested item is the green tea chocolate with the chewy white mochi centre (bottom of the pic below). Each box is 700yen. You can also buy various flavours of Kit Kats that are exclusive to Japan. The flavours currently available are green tea, sakura with green tea, soy sauce (yech!), almond pudding and wasabi. Tokyo Banana is another popular snack. This is the newer chocolate version which has the same banana custard centre.

Blech, I did not like the soy sauce kit kat at all! Almond pudding sounds good though!

I didn't buy a lot of HE Japanese brands (other than Jill Stuart) until we were leaving Japan at the end of our trip - and then I feel like I bought it because I could (in hindsight I have given most of the palettes away) but the counters are a pleasure to look at *_* I am hoping that the next time I pass through I am smart enough to bring less carry-on stuff... so I can carry my purchases, haha.

hi,If you are going to Hokkaido, you will be going through immigration and then after customs, you will go through a separate channel for domestic flights, so you will not go through this transit area with the shops mentioned in this post. This transit area is for international flights going out of Narita to other countries, not to other destinations within Japan.

hi Karen,Fancl is not available at Narita airport. There is Ma Cherie haircare at a toiletries and travel goods store on the left side of the terminal after immigration (mainly hair styling/straightening sprays in full sizes). The shampoo and conditioner is sold only in a travel sample duo at the Perfumes & Cosmetics store that stocks Shiseido on the left side of the terminal after immigration.